Every day is a new lesson about life. I've got a lot to learn.
A review six months in the making.
Allow me to digress in order to give you a context of my relationship with The Reichenbach Fall.
I first watched it in February, on the day before our graduation if memory serves me well. Since then, I’ve wanted to write about it or just even rewatch it. But I didn’t. And now, roughly six months later, I am sitting in front of my laptop to blog about it.
Interesting. Really interesting.
I’ve just finished watching the unaired pilot episode and I’m going to say it’s a far cry from the aired one. Not their fault, really. That 30 minutes was indeed precious for the telling of the story — Moriarty wasn’t mentioned, Mycroft did not appear. Too true when they said that the whole series would have gone another way if this had been aired and this had been the first episode for the season.
Quite everything might have gone another way — Sherlock and John’s relationship (John identified as his blogger in The Blind Banker; now he’s Sherlock’s doctor XD), Sherlock’s hair, Sherlock’s scarf — he’s worn it far too scarcely here, Mrs. Hudson’s fashion, the name of the cafe beside 221B, the interior design of their flat, Mycroft and John’s connection, how Moriarty will come into play, Anderson’s facial hair, Sally Donovan’s look, the pink phone — I could name more but I’ll stop here.
While watching the episode, I was replaying in my mind certain scenes from the other version of The Study in Pink. Like inserting this sequence and that, imagining how this scene was presented in the other one. *sigh*
One can never un-watch Sherlock. Once you’ve got it in your system, it never goes away. I may never see this pilot episode as anything else but a rebound of the other one.
I’ve just started watching the unaired pilot episode of Sherlock. Six minutes and thirty-six seconds into the video, I paused and immediately sought the other first episode. I…I…I can’t take it. I miss everything. The theme — Sherlock’s theme! It’s not there in the pilot episode. And suddenly the whole thing felt tasteless and dry to me.
I’m trying hard not to smash the keyboard.
…
AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!
Okay, I’m fine again.
Maybe there is something more than meets the eyes — and ears, to this episode. I’ll watch more. As I’ve said I’ve gone no more than six minutes and thirty-six seconds. Who knows?
As of this writing, this episode has moved me most. However, I’m guessing The Reichenbach Fall would be more intense — in more ways than one.
This will be a bit of another long post, you might want to read it on a separate tab. *grins*
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asdhfasjlfhalkshfalkshgladkhgladkhgladh. I’m just bursting with emotions. Sherlock. A Scandal in Belgravia. Irene Adler. The Woman.
Pass me a tissue. Please.
I was planning to do another the-blind-banker-like post but at the last minute I got lazy (maybe I’ll do a short one instead). In lieu of that, here are screen shots of some of my favorite scenes from The Great Game.
^ He was talking like Alan Rickman back there. lol
^ I like the effect of the camera flashes here.
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Honestly, Sherlock and Moriarty are kind of scaring me. The whole game, though really amusing for them and really amazing to watch on the telly, is honestly scary in real life.
Oh and Sara is in this episode; here’s me hoping she’ll be back for more. Lestrade is back too; Sherlock and him have a nice team-up.
I reckon this episode has shown Sherlock’s character more than any other. I’m kind of speechless about that though. I’m going to take a leaf from Sherlock’s book and say, “It’s dangerous to jump to conclusions. I need more data.”
Yes! I’m back with more Sherlock deductions to dish out. I’ve just finished re-watching the second episode of Sherlock — The Blind Banker. I find that I have to watch it two times before I understand it enough to make a review. First I watch it for the story (so that I can savour every bit of the suspense), and the second for the production stuff (and also to see more of Sherlock).
I would’ve put a ‘read more’ break right about here but it seems to be broken — it doesn’t work…I’ve tried the html code but it still doesn’t work. However, I digress, let’s move on to Sherlock shall we?
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For the second episode, the one element that has got me amazed is the sound production — the whole of it. Oh when I first watched it, the scene with Soo Lin seeing the cipher, it got me — I was like a kid watching a suspense movie. The sound effects and the cinematography played up the suspense great.
I don’t know if it’s just me but when I watch suspenseful scenes, I get the feeling of expectation that something is going to happen — like some monster is going to jump out at you, or the protagonist (say for example Sherlock or John <— hah. we’re on first-name terms [sorry, the inner fan-girl awakens]) is going to see a dead body. The waiting for this expectation to happen is what suspense is all about — you know something is going to happen, you just don’t know when.
Another remarkable scene where I liked the sound production is when John discovers the dead body of Soo Lin. From the moment he hears the single gunshot a sort of an Oriental requiem plays. But right at the moment when he sees her, it comes to a stop — as though the conductor signaled the end of the piece. Amazing bit of music.
Also, I like the infusion of the Oriental-themed music into appropriate scenes: like the sequence in the circus, the tea ceremony by Soo Lin at the beginning of the episode, and the time Andy visited Soo Lin’s flat in Chinatown.
There were also scenes when the music seems to be humoring the characters. Much like when Sherlock complimented Molly’s new hairstyle — to flatter her into letting him see the cadavers even though their papers have gone through. The music then was providing a perfect cue for my quiet laughing-out-loud alone in the room.
Another was also that part which John described as a book event. Well yeah, a whole evening sifting through crates of books can probably be called a book event. But the soundtrack then was providing a clue — you’d think that if they really were up to something important the music would be something serious-sounding. But no, it was light, even something I could tap my feet to. Turns out, the music’s cue was right — Sherlock didn’t find the book in those crates.
Another one in the production department was the cinematography. I am now definitely a fan of the post production team for Sherlock. I love the cuts. And the motion graphics. Though there’s not much motion graphics to go around this time — mostly it’s the ciphers floating in front of Sherlock’s face. But the cuts, the transitions — definitely loving them. Especially during the scene when Soo Lin turned down Andy’s offer for a drink — first she closes the lid of the tea accessories, then the doors of the museum are closed, and then a hand turns off the switch for the lights. A bit symbolic now that I think back on it. By turning down that offer, though indirectly, she closes the lid on her life, the doors to her freedom, and extinguishes the light of her life.
But aside from that, there was also a clever sequence of cuts during the investigation of Edward van Coon’s flat during which Sherlock pointed out the obvious manifestations that the former was indeed left-handed and that they are looking at a murder, and not a suicide. The camera would first show Sherlock talking and then a shot of an object he is talking about — the layout of the furniture, the mug, the butter on the bread knife and the pen near the phone.
I also like the play on the depth of field of the camera. The way the focus of the camera shifts from character to character is, I reckon, really interesting. A scene which does this is the conversation between Soo Lin and Andy on her last afternoon doing her job at the museum and another one is the shift from Sherlock’s reflection to his real self (this was when they were talking to Sebastian in the wash room — wait, can anyone tell me, is this particular Sebastian the Sebastian Moran? an enemy of Sherlock’s?)
Well I guess that’s enough of the production stuff. I’ll get on to the content.
I’m sorry if I’m a bit slow, but did anyone else wonder why the title of this episode is The Blind Banker? I had to watch it again to understand (just like A Study in Pink) the title; that the ‘blind banker’ is the portrait in the bank — the one that’s been vandalized. I find no other relevance to the other events in the story, unless Sebastian’s ignorance counts as blindness.
And of course, there’s dramatic irony again. I love that. The most striking show of dramatic irony for me in this episode is the conversation between Soo Lin and Andy at the beginning. She was talking about things that are meant to be touched and not kept behind glass when she was refusing Andy’s offer. I don’t know if she knows this but she is one such beauty that must not be kept behind the glass and that maybe she was not looking hard enough and not seeing the real value of other things….and people for this matter.
On a lighter note, however, the other dramatic irony was when John got back from the shop empty-handed only to find an apparently relaxed and unmoved Sherlock sitting on an armchair. John rants on about Sherlock not having moved since he left — which is quite, well very, contrary to what actually happened.
Sherlock seems more serious in this episode, he smiles more rarely. Is it perhaps because of Moriarty?
In this episode, the truth that Sherlock is indeed married to his work is clearly stamped on me. He has no time for anything else. Little time to notice John too, if I may say so. He refuses to eat because that slows him down — I read this in the book too. And then in the circus, he clearly implies that nothing is more important than finding out the truth behind their case — even more important than John’s date.
In this episode, Sherlock’s dependence on John is also evident. Numerous times John has proved his worth. One was by retrieving the diary from Scotland Yard (when he met Sherlock, the latter was blabbering about the meeting place that John already knew about because of the diary), another was taking a photo of the graffiti near the train tracks. lol. That was hilarious. Sherlock did all sorts of weird things like spin him around, telling him about memory when all the while John had already taken a photo.
And also, the reasons for the Sherlock and John pairing are becoming more and more evident to me. But they look more like siblings to me — much like the Elrics from Fullmetal Alchemist. But there’s more than what we see on the outside. John is important to Sherlock (even introduced him to Sebastian as his friend) because of who John is to Sherlock. See, in the first episode, he says that he usually talks to the skull (his ‘friend’) when he thinks aloud. It possibly says something about Sherlock there — that he’s under-appreciated. Even though he helps the Scotland Yard, most of the police regard him with spite. But then here comes John who, surprisingly (for Sherlock), thinks that his observations are extraordinary. Anyone like that would be regarded with a special affection at the very least, don’t you think? I think that Sherlock and John have got a very interesting bond. It must be very uplifting for Sherlock to have someone with whom he can explain his deductions to without the occasional sneer and hate. And for John to have someone who makes the mundane exciting — making him see the battlefield as Mycroft put it (although he gets left behind by Sherlock twice during this episode, in the flat of van Coon and Soo Lin to be precise).
And one more thing. They really like bringing up the subject of John’s relationship status don’t they? Well, I think Sarah(?) is pretty and nice. I wonder of she’ll still be in the third episode and if John will be able to keep his job at the hospital at the rate he’s going — getting barely any sleep because of running around London with Sherlock — not that that’s a bad thing.
And while I’m at the subject of relationships, I may bring up van Coon’s gift to his secretary — the 9-million-pound jade hair pin. Well, I guess she doesn’t deserve him.
Well, this has been a long post. A really long one. Thanks for reading if you got here. Hahaha. I’ll post another one when I’m done with The Great Game.
For about a month now I’ve been following the blog of a person who really likes Sherlock — well I say like, but obsessed is closer to the truth. My dashboard is regularly flooded with all kinds of posts about Sherlock: pictures, screenshots, comments, observations by fans, appreciation posts, deductions about the series and also artworks.
Slowly, bit by bit, everyday, it grew on me. I became interested about the series more and more — having read and loved crime and mystery novels by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Dame Agatha Christie. While scrolling through posts about Sherlock, I began to think to myself, hey I should not read too much of these; I might be in for a spoiler.
The soundtrack, however, was the last straw. I first heard it on tumblr. You should see the post; the comments are hilarious (I’ll have to find it first before I link it here). After hearing the theme I told myself I had to watch this series.
[edit: Here it is! I found the tumblr post of the soundtrack. Enjoy.]
And so it was that I took to getting my hands on a copy of episode one: A Study in Pink.
I’ll be discussing some spoilers from here on out…so to those who don’t want to be spoiled, get yourselves a copy of the series and watch it then come back and continue reading. Or not. You can also just read the spoilers. Be my guest.
